Popular rural breakfast seminar held in Winchester

Landowners and rural professionals gathered for a breakfast seminar in Winchester in February.

More than 75 people attended the event at Winchester College, which was organised and hosted by Savills.

Thomas Brunt, agribusiness consultant from Savills Newbury, gave an introduction, before Lucian Cook, Savills head of UK residential research, gave an overview of the residential market, including the potential impact of the UK leaving the EU.

Alex Lawson, who heads up the firm’s national farms and estates team based in London, gave an overview of the national farmland market, before George Syrett, head of farm agency at Savills Winchester, looked more specifically at the Hampshire market, and Luke French, from the firm’s Edinburgh office, spoke about the Scottish market.

Lee Scott, from Savills Petworth, then introduced rural planning and provided a roundup of recent changes to local and national planning policy.

Finally, Simon Blandford, who heads up Savills agribusiness team in the south, set out his views on the possible impact of an EU referendum on agricultural businesses.

George Syrett said: “It is testament to the expanding Savills network and knowledge base in Hampshire to have over 75 landowners and rural professionals attending this seminar.”